AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart
Chapter 215
written by LoveCR2 -- 2005
edited by All-About-AAE -- 2019
"I've been driving in circles too long, going nowhere. It's time to put an end to this." -- Yoon Hyung-Chul
SUBURBAN SEOUL...
Hyung-Chul signals a right turn, easing his BMW into a traffic gap in the curb lane.
... 'And in today's economic news, the world market showed continued stability, with the KOSPI 200 rising 5, the S&P up 50 and London's FTSE 100 down 10' ...
He mutes the radio and slows for the next intersection. But instead of turning, he switches off the signal and drives straight on, even as Soo-Hee's advice echoes in his thoughts...
... 'Some people claim that going back where memories were made, to acknowledge and release them, can help' ...
Determined not to give up, Hyung-Chul heads for the next major street intersection, to circle back again, for the fifth time.
Beep - beep ... beep - beep ... The car's mobile announces an incoming call.
He picks up... "Yes?"
"Where are you right now?" Sun-Dal asks.
"Busy... Why?"
"Mi-Rae is asking if her favorite uncle can come tonight and play Go-Stop, and Joo-Hee wants to know if you'll join us for dinner, too," Sun-Dal extends the invitation.
"Sorry, not tonight," Hyung-Chul declines. "I have plans..."
"What plans? I already checked the club's schedule, and you're not on. So come out, have some fun for a change," Sun-Dal tries to persuade him.
Hyung-Chul laughs. "Fun for whom? Mi-Rae wins every time..."
"Look, it's been months since Sun-Mi left. You don't have to be alone," Sun-Dal insists.
"And you and Joo-Hee don't have to take care of me," Hyung-Chul still holds back. "You have four kids to deal with. I can handle my life myself."
"It's what good friends do, help each other out," Sun-Dal persists. "It doesn't hurt to lean on others sometimes."
... advice Hyung-Chul recalls he'd also once given ... 'Nobody lives alone. Everyone leans on other people and burdens them' ...
"You're right," he concludes. "I've been driving in circles too long, going nowhere. It's time to put an end to this..."
Sun-Dal is surprised at his friend's sudden change of mind... "Good for you! So you'll be joining us?"
"I have something to do first. It could be a couple of hours."
"We'll expect you for dinner then," Sun-Dal confirms, but warns, "You can't back out and disappoint Joo-Hee and Mi-Rae for anything, got it?."
Hyung-Chul chuckles... "See you later... Bye..."
At the next intersection he U-turns and heads back...
A block later he is where he started. But this time, instead of driving by, he slows and turns off onto the familiar narrow lane.
A minute later, he drives up to the house where Sun-Mi had lived with her father and stops alongside the hedge separating the yard from the lane.
The gates are closed. Occupying the small car park inside the fence, where Jin Kui-Sung's old 1990's Land Rover often sat, is a Pearl White Lexus LX 470 SUV.
In the bright light of day, the white wrought iron gate looks like any other in the neighborhood. The knowledge that someone else lives here now, not Sun-Mi, strips it of any sentimental significance in his mind...
... Soo-Hee was right about coming here ... he'd t worried over nothing ...
From where he sits, the front door is not visible behind the hedge, but Hyung-Chul can see Sun-Mi's former bedroom window.
Looking up at the window, he remembers the long night he'd spent waiting and watching the lighted window, knowing the she was up there, trying to connect telepathically and call her down...Eventually, the light had gone out, and he'd had to admit failure, leaving the rose stem he'd brought stuck in the gate, with a half-hearted hope she might find it in the morning...
From there, he closes his eyes and takes a slow drive down 'memory lane' ... watching the picture-perfect recollections he'd captured roll past in a nostalgic parade of what are now bittersweet moments...
... 'A British goodbye' ...
... 'They say telepathy only works if two people truly care for each other' ...
... 'You should've woken me up. I didn't want you to see me like this ... Because it's you' ...
... 'This Saturday is my birthday' ...
... 'I never thought I was particularly lucky. But I think I was really lucky that I met you' ...
... 'I like you, just you and not anybody else. Please believe me' ...
... 'You're being too nice to me. Please don't ... Why are you so good to me?' ...
... 'You wanted to do this for five minutes?' ...
... 'I wanted to see you home once when you didn't have your car' ...
With that memory still lingering in his mind's eye -- walking off with Sun-Mi on his arm, protected under his umbrella in the rain -- Hyung-Chul opens his eyes again and reaches for the key to restart the car...
The effort had been futile... Instead of the memories being resigning to the past as Soo-Hee had predicted, he now feels more acutely the pain of his loss and the longing in his heart for Sun-Mi.
... 'I won't burden you by waiting... I'll be happy, knowing that you're happy' ...
He had lied with those words, to Sun-Mi and to himself... he can't stop waiting ... he'll never be happy ...until he sees her again ...
... 'Moving on doesn't mean forgetting, or regretting... Because it's you' ...
Hyung-Chul stares numbly at the gate, his vision blurred by the tears rolling in his eyes, as those words echo in his empty heart.
BEEP ... BEEP ... BEEP ...
The loud backup horn of a truck rouses Hyung-Chul from his silent reverie...
Backing up across the lane, in front of his car, is a Kia Bongo truck painted rose pink. The bed is piled high with garden mulch.
Hyung-Chul reads the sign on the door...
PERLA'S FLORALS
Bringing happiness to the world with flowers
1-Hour Flowers -- Special Events -- Garden Care
T.02-9944-1213 www.perlasflowers.kr
The truck stops and a man gets out. Buff and in his early twenties, he is wearing khaki trousers and a bright pink Perla's Florals T-shirt. The man walks to the back of the truck, opens the gate, and signals to the driver to resume backing.
Slowly the truck rolls back to the gate and stops.
The driver, also wearing a Perla's T-shirt and khaki, gets out of the cab. Taller that the first man, but just as well-built, he slaps a baseball cap on his head and grabs shovels from the truck while the first man lowers the tailgate. The two men then begin unloading mulch into a pile beside the SUV.
Curious about the landscaping work that appears to be in progress, Hyung-Chul gets out of his car and walks up to the gate. Looking in, he is surprised to find that most of the plantings in the yard were removed and replaced by newly laid flower beds, some abloom with Spring flowers.
Hyung-Chul asks the gardeners, "Who's in charge here?"
The truck driver ceases shoveling and answers, "Talk to the Boss... over there." He points a gloved hand in the general direction south of the house.
Hyung-Chul acknowledges the assistance with a curt, "Thanks," and enters through the gate.
A new walkway of leveled, white limestone pavers replaces the uneven, rough flagstones previously leading from the car park up to the house, but he veers right in the direction indicated.
Crossing over the grassy yard, he rounds the corner of the wood deck.
Near the side of the house, Hyung-Chul finds another gardener dressed in the Perla uniform and a rumpled wide-brim safari hat.
He waits, watching as the gardener positions a rose shrub into a hole and back-fills it with compacted soil, before he speaks up...
"Excuse me, Sir," Hyung-Chul announces his presence, stepping forward.
As he comes nearer, the 'Boss' stands up and turns around to face him. Behind oversize, round-framed sunglasses is an unmistakable face with a brilliant smile...
A smile that instantly banishes the ache in his heart as she greets him...
"Hello, Senior..."